Name Day
by Lila Priceless
Summary: Everyone has a birthday. Everyone has a name. The dates normally coincide, but Yachiru is not everyone.


"7 clouds in the skyy, 3 little birds in the treees, 20 stupid-heads on the ground when Ken-chan named meee..."

"What are you singing Yachiru?" Matsumoto asked as the president of the Shinigami Women's Association rhythmically beat the gavel to a strange beat while singing an even stranger song.

"The Name Day song."

"Name day? What's that?" Hinamori asked as she caught Matsumoto's puzzled expression.

"It's the day I got my name, silly," Yachiru responded in between lyrics.

"I see. How long ago was that?"

Yachiru held up both hands and flashed a rapid succession of numbers as she continued singing.

"Oh so that's how old you are?" Hinamori asked innocently as Unohana's eyes widened at the other end of the table.

"Unh-uh. I'm this many, I think", she said flashing the adding additional years to the number she'd given before.

"What do you mean you think? You don't know how old you are?" Matsumoto asked frowning slightly.

"Nope. Ken-chan says he thinks I was around one when he found me, but he waited a few years before he gave me a name because he didn't know if I was strong enough to last." She explained putting down the gavel to draw on the previous month's minutes that Vice President Nanao had just passed out.

Unohana elbowed Isane and they began to creep toward the other end of the table before the 5th and 10th division's vice captains could calculate the difference in Yachiru's and Hitsugaya's ages.

Momo looked to sky for answers as while thinking aloud, "Shiro-chan died when he was five, we lived together 30 years, I've been a shinigami 40 years…."

"Taichou's been with me to 34 years, he was in the Academy 1 year, he died when he was five. Hey Momo, how long did live with you Taichou before you went to the Academy?" Matsumoto asked calmly attempting not give her suspicions away.

"Oh-"

"No you don't!" Matsumoto and Hinamori both yelled realizing that Yachiru was several years older than diminutive captain in question.

"-Hell." Unohana cursed as both women jumped up from the table sending their chairs crashing to the floor eluding their would be captors as they shunpo'ed from the room. "Soi Fong, grab them!"

Once again Unohana was too late as Matsumoto and Hinamori sent smaller woman along with part of the door frame flying as they raced towards the 10th Division.

"Isane!"

"I'm already on it, Taichou," Isane muttered finishing up the words of the multi-broadcast kidou send the warning across Seireitei.

"This is Unohana-taichou of the Fourth Division. Commence Operation Ice Age. This is not a drill. Everyone report to your battle stations or seek shelter immediately. Frostover will occur in approximately 90 seconds. I repeat this is Unohana-taichou of the Fourth Division. Commence operation 'Ice Age'. This is not a drill. Everyone report to your battle stations or seek shelter immediately. Frostover will occur in approximately 90 seconds".

"Soi Fong, Rukia, Nanao round up any stragglers and bring them here. Kiyone, Nemu secure this building. Isane, contact the rescue squads and make sure they're all in place. Everyone else continue the broadcast," Unohana barked as one of her worse nightmares came true. She'd always known that one day Hitsugaya-taichou would learn he was younger than Yachiru, but she'd hoped it would be after he'd gone through puberty and had reached a point where age or height didn't really matter so much, but she'd scheduled a Shinigami Women's association meeting not realizing it fell on Name Day. She mentally kicked herself one last time before assessing the situation.

All of Seiteirei was abuzz once the announcement went off. No one really knew what Operation Ice Age was except they'd all been given orders to seek shelter or to report to battle stations. The 13 protection squads were arranged numerically inside the walls that encircle Seireitei. 1st and 13th Divisions had been charged with guarding the nobles which bordered their quarters. The merchants had also been instructed seek shelter at designed points within the marketplace and all low ranking seated shinigami had been assigned an area to protect with kidou barriers. All academy students had been told to gather in the basement and put up a kidou barrier while the instructors created a barrier at each of the entry ways.

All other divisions had been instructed to seek shelter at various points farthest from the blast zones and form concentric barriers based on strength levels with their seated officers forming the outer barrier. The 11th division was instructed to riot amongst themselves to generate a reiatsu field since they didn't use kidou. The 8th and 9th divisions would form the barrier for the west. 6th and 7th divisions would protect the north. In most cases the captains and vice captains would form the outer shield while the seated officers formed another one behind them. Kurotsuchi, Tousen, Komamura and Kenpachi were the exceptions. The first three had bankai's which had large material forms to cover an area and provide a physical barrier; the last had no bankai, but a very strong reaitsu nonetheless. He would simply remove his eyepatch and wait for the boss enemy to show up and get his ass kicked.

"Isane, status!"

"Everyone seems to be in place, but we have a problem," Isane paused as her captain walked towards her, "The plan was developed under the assumption no one would be using the old banquet hall so there is a gap in protection."

"Shit. Shit, shit, shit, shit shit" Unohana cussed trying to find the best way to protect their current location. She could always use Minazuki to shield everyone, but he would be needed to heal the actual wounded.

"You sound like Ken-chan," Yachiru giggled as she watched the adults run frantically around her.

Unohana looked at the tiny girl and began to smile, "Yachiru, come with me dear" she said extending her hand.

"Oh no," Isane whimpered as she realized what her captain was planning, "Taichou you can't, we'll all die"

Unlike her captain, the vice captain of the 11th division had a very strong relationship with her zanpaktou. So much so that she first achieved materialization during a temper tantrum 50 years ago which caused multiple explosions which destroyed several buildings in the 10th, 11th and 12th division's compounds. Her only explanation was that the pretty pink monster got hungry.

"Do you have a better idea? I'm the only one with a bankai capable of holding everyone, but I'll need it to heal anyone who wasn't able to seek shelter. We have plenty of people here to form a barrier, but unfortunately most of them aren't strong enough to fend off a direct hit at this distance. I've thought this through. Don't you agree that our best hope of standing up to the most powerful zanpaktou of ice is the most dangerous one of fire?"

She didn't wait for an answer as she took Yachiru out into the courtyard. "I have a present for you. Do you see that tree to your left and the building to the right?"

Yachiru nodded as she ran over to landmarks in question looking for her present. "I don't see it," she pouted returning to Unohana's side.

"That's because you haven't called it."

Yachiru's eyes widened as she looked up at Unohana, "You mean…"

"It will be our secret so you can't tell anyone, but Chan-chan can dance between that tree and building. He can get as tall as he wants, just keep him moving in a straight line and tell him to eat anything that tries to come through.

"Yay!" Yachiru cheered before beginning the nonsensical chant which summoned and commanded Chan-chan and dancing in the area her zanpaktou was to patrol.

Soi Fong returned from her rescue mission was about to report the status of preparations she'd seen on her journey when the pink creature suddenly expanded and began shaking its head wildly. "Is that…?"

Unohana's nervous nod confirmed her suspicions. It was Chan-chan. The most feared zanpaktou in all of Seireitei. All zanpaktou responded to their owner's emotional state, but Yachiru was still a child and could not control her feelings much less the huge fire fox dragon. Many of the roofs still had scorch marks from 50 years ago. The two captains watched warily as the girl's words and movements became faster and wilder.

She leapt and spun and the majestic beast mimicked her every motion with his own until he turned towards the 10th Division and roared. They covered their ears as the battle cries of the two elemental dragons filled the air. The heat surged back their way before forcing the rapidly approaching wall of ice to hiss and crack before shattering into millions of tiny shards before disintegrating into a cloud of steam. They breathed a sigh of relief letting the child and her pet dance a little longer before instructing her to put it away.

"Thank you Braid-Lady. That was the best name day present ever!" Yachiru squealed before heading back inside the building to retrieve the goodies Forelock had smuggled from Byakushi's kitchen without ever releasing she'd just defeated Captain Hitsugaya and saved the lives hundreds of shinigami.


End file.
